4.15.2008

congo watch

Something went wrong on take-off. Birere is close, but there's plenty of space (not to mention an area for temporary military encampments) between the runway, the road, and the market.

Birere is total chaos. During the day, thousands and thousands of people go about their business there. It's where I sometimes go to buy fabric in the shops near the roundpoint, or vegetables in the market. It's E's preferred market. It's where her housekeeper and his family live.

Six of 85 people on the plane survived, including the pilot and co-pilot and four passengers, two of whom are children.

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I also have been in this market where the crash occured, and my writing below is in no way meant to minimize the reality of this specific tragedy. I also have dear friends in eastern Congo. Please don't read my comments below as callous. I am only trying to point out what seems to be an interest on the US media's part of being quick to focus on easily definable tragedies. But on the other hand a real reluctance on the part of the media to tackle larger structural/systemic tragedies.

Apparently I don't know what really matter in regards to important issues pertaining to the Congo (DRC). This is currently headline news on both MSN and Yahoo- At least 79 die as plane crashes into Congo residential area.

Silly me, I thought the fact that 5and a half million people have died in a war fueled by developed/developing nations thirst for cheap minearal resources is what should be headline news.